Cheryl Paswater is the owner/fermentationist behind Brooklyn's Contraband Ferments, the founder of the Fermentation CSA, and a health coach.

Cheryl brings a very different perspective to health coaching. After debilitating series of symptoms, Cheryl took her health into her own hands. She found herself dealing with doctors who could not seem to help her. Dissatisfied by mis-diagnosis, tired of antibiotics, lack of results, and haunted by the idea that these issues might actually be related, Cheryl decided to explore treatment options for herself.

After lots of research and reading and talking to doctors and healthcare providers of every stripe, Cheryl found herself reading about the gut microbiome and fermentation repeatedly. After having the epiphany that every culture in the world was eating fermented foods and they weren't sick like Americans are, she was then inspired to learn more about fermentation, and fermenting her own foods and Cheryl decided to return to school to study Fermentation, Gut Health, and Health Coaching to help others discover how healing their guts and addressing their microbiome could influence their health.

Her coaching practice looks the the whole person: diet to include probiotic rich foods, exercise, emotional state, and more to help address sleep and mood disorders, digestion, depression, anxiety, headaches, IBS, skin issues, immunity, and overall health and energy.

Cheryl works with each client to design a holistic plan that is sustainable for their and lifestyle to help create a plan that will work for the long haul. She teaches fermentation and gut health workshops, at fermentation festivals (and is co-organizer of the NYC Fermentation Festival), and also works with health coaches and other holistic practitioners teaching fermentation, gut ecology, and helping them to take this amazing information to their clients.